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As governments in California increasingly consider limiting new residential natural gas connections, it is important to question whether banning natural gas is an “antidote to climate change”.

Starting in early 2020, plans for most new Santa Rosa homes likely won’t include natural gas stoves, fireplaces, furnaces and water heaters. The Santa Rosa City Council on Tuesday voted 6-0 to require the exclusive use of electric appliances in most new residential construction below four stories.

While Berkeley and San Luis Obispo have gotten a lot of media attention for phasing out natural gas in new home construction, little attention has been paid to the 106 California local governments that have adopted smart resolutions to keep energy choice for affordable reliable heating, cooling, and cooking in our homes. That’s right, 106 local governments are opposed to eliminating natural gas in new construction. In total, they represent nearly 6.9 million people—close to 20 percent of Californians.

In the kitchen of Shanghailander Palace in Arcadia, chef Chun Lei tosses raw shrimp into a wide wok bubbling noisily with oil. BAM! A sizzling thunderclap. Flames shoot out from under the wok. The shrimp turns a lovely pink.

California has some of the highest average residential electric rates in the country, but average monthly bills are among the lowest because homes in the Golden State use less electricity than those in most other states.

Earlier this year, owners of 2012-2019 Tesla Model S and Model X electric cars received an over-the-air software update that was meant to address battery management systems. Now, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants to know if Tesla should have recalled the cars for a potential defect.

As a cleaner, more flexible, and more reliable fuel that supports intermittent wind and solar power, Natural gas is a centerpiece of climate and energy strategies put forth, including under President Obama Incredibly, Climate Week in New York City did not have a single “Energy Transition” event that focused on gas. We know that this is a terrible missed opportunity because the surge in U.S. gas use has the country leading the world in CO2 reduction.

In the kitchen of Shanghailander Palace in Arcadia, chef Chun Lei tosses raw shrimp into a wide wok bubbling noisily with oil. BAM! A sizzling thunderclap. Flames shoot out from under the wok. The shrimp turns a lovely pink. Cooking with gas is dramatic, sweaty, and part of the rhythm in the fabled kitchens of San Gabriel Valley’s Chinese restaurants. But some chefs like Lei worry that days of the gas stove could be numbered.

Dozens of cities in liberal-leaning states such as California, Washington, and Massachusetts are studying proposals to ban or limit the use of natural gas in commercial and residential buildings. The movement opens a new front in the fight against climate change that could affect everything from heating systems in skyscrapers to stoves in suburban homes.

El evento, llamado Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo, se llevó a cabo del 25 al 27 de agosto en el Centro de Convenciones de Los Ángeles. Sabor Latino, Avosalc, Mama Cheesecake y La Bufadora Baja Grill fueron algunas de las compañías que participaron en la exposición.

A new push to try and move California away from natural gas onto electric is having an impact on restaurants. The gas burners at Pez Cantina in Downtown LA are igniting just before the lunch rush. Bret Thompson at Pez Cantina in downtown L.A. has been cooking for 22 years, and has been a chef for 15.

Another chunk of Kern County’s economy — natural gas production — has come under threat from California’s efforts to “decarbonize” buildings across the state as a way of helping achieve Sacramento’s greenhouse-gas reduction goals.

Earlier this week, supporters (and some protesting opponents) of natural gas gathered at a conference in Riverside to discuss California’s move to become a zero-emission state, spurred by the 2018 signing of Senate Bill 1477, aimed at making California homes and businesses “near-zero emissions.”

More than a dozen San Gabriel Valley cities are pushing back on an effort that could ban the use of natural gas in residential and commercial buildings.
The California Public Utilities Commission and the California Energy Commission have been holding workshops throughout the state to discuss and gather public feedback over the implementation of Senate Bill 1477, which strives to reach near-zero emission homes. The move calls for an electric-only model.

For decades, small-scale biogas systems have collected methane from landfills, sewage plants, and farms. Now, in Europe and the U.S., the growth of this renewable form of natural gas is taking off as businesses capture large amounts of methane from manure, food waste, and other sources.

The Berkeley, California, City Council is getting headlines for its decision last week to ban supposedly gendered language from its city code. “Manhole” and “manpower” are now out in favor of “maintenance hole” and “human effort.” Somewhere George Orwell is crying, but the city’s progressive lords were even more destructive when they also moved to ban natural gas from nearly all new buildings.

As the state of California hurtles toward adopting a building decarbonization policy that mandates electricity as the sole source of power, it is increasingly important that we pay attention to this issue and make our voices heard before the state heedlessly makes a decision that will have severe unintended consequences.

FRESNO – This summer has seen unseasonably inexpensive utility rates thanks to mild temperatures but every Valley resident knows that higher electric bills are inevitable. That isn’t true for the winter months, when heaters are fueled by natural gas, a less expensive power source that has become renewable through new technology, some of which is being utilized right here in the Valley. The price difference for temperature control between winter and summer could become a thing of the past unless Valley leaders can prevent the State from turning off access to non-electrical power such as natural gas.

Local county supervisors joined California energy groups and companies, and a local business association to brief local media and stakeholders on recent state energy policies in the courtyard between the Saroyan Theater and Valdez Hall on Thursday.

Plans by the state of California to explore ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from homes and buildings are being decried by a coalition of natural-gas customers as a recipe for requiring all structures in the state to ultimately convert to using only electricity.

The oases that once interrupted the dusty slopes of the Atacama desert in northern Chile allowed humans and animals to survive for thousands of years in the world’s driest climate. That was before the mining started.

The Puente Hills Landfill in Los Angeles is the largest landfill in the United States (rising 500 feet high and covering 700 acres) and it has a capacity of 700 million tons. However, there is one caveat for this exercise that I forgot to mention — none of the organic waste can go to a landfill.

The benefits of diversity are seemingly everywhere in California. We celebrate different lifestyles, religions, cultures, music, languages, cuisine and geography. The value of diversity can be seen in other ways, too, practical ones such as the popularity of mutual fund investments, eating a balanced diet or making sure an NFL team has a playbook with multiple options.

Joey Airoso last year hooked his dairy into a huge California renewable energy project, a network of farms that turns the gas leaking off manure from 35,000 cows into a biofuel.

California’s major monopoly utilities asked regulators Monday to approve higher profits for their shareholders amid a growing risk of destructive fires. The biggest request came from Southern California Edison, where the average household customers could see an annual bill increase of more than $170.

Renewable Energy and natural gas aren’t an “either/or” choice for New England: Now and for years to come, they’re a “both/and” necessity to ensure we have a reliable, affordable energy system our six states can count on.